“If I think about a transformational time for
how people work — this is it,” says Megan
Jarvis, vice president of talent at Lessonly,
a software company headquartered in
Indianapolis. “The door is open for companies
to rethink how they work.”
GET EMPLOYEE BUY-IN EARLY
The biggest mistake you can make is rolling
out a plan void of any employee input. Bring
your team into the fold early, survey them to
gauge their concerns and preferences, then
enlist a select few to be part of a return-to-
office committee.
Those employees will have skin in the game
and will help get other employees on board
when you announce your return-to-office plan,
Jarvis says.
The feedback loop shouldn’t stop when the
office doors reopen. Continue to touch base
with employees through teamwide and one-
on-one meetings so workers have a space to ask
questions and surface concerns.
“Bring the team together so that you’re all on
the same page and understand each other’s
challenges,” says Danny Wright, chief operating
officer of 1863 Ventures, a Washington, D.C.-
based program that helps grow the businesses
of new majority entrepreneurs — a term
increasingly used to describe individuals who
are members of historically marginalized and
disinvested groups. “Continue to mold those
relationships so that as the pandemic ebbs and
flows, you’re on the same page and moving
better together as a family.”